Salt Lake Drops Third Straight in Narrow 8-7 Loss to Las Vegas

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PCL Salt Lake Bees

Salt Lake Drops Third Straight in Narrow 8-7 Loss to Las Vegas

June 12, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release


LAS VEGAS - The Salt Lake Bees dropped their third consecutive game in the second contest of the series at Las Vegas, falling 8-7 despite outhitting the Aviators 9-8 and taking an early lead on Christian Moore's second straight first-inning home run.

Las Vegas Aviators 8, Salt Lake Bees 7

WP: Jack Cushing (6 - 1)

LP: Caden Dana (4 - 6)

SV: Elvis Alvarado (7)

Game Summary

Game two of the series mirrored Tuesday's opener, with three home runs coming in the first two innings and at least one team scoring in each of the first three frames. Christian Moore sparked the Salt Lake offense once again with a first-inning home run for the second straight night, putting the Bees up 2-0. It marked his fourth homer of the season and third coming in the opening frame.

Las Vegas had an answer of its own, hitting home runs in both the first and second innings. Nick Martini went deep for the second straight game, followed by a solo shot from Carlos Cortes--also his second consecutive game with a homer.

In the third, Salt Lake reclaimed the lead with a two-out rally. After Christian Moore reached on a throwing error, he advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on Niko Kavadas' RBI single to left.

The Aviators answered once again with a three-run third, marking their third straight inning with a run to start the game. Nick Martini reached after being hit by a pitch, and a pair of two-out walks loaded the bases. Carlos Cortes forced in a run with the third walk of the inning, followed by a wild pitch that brought home another. Darell Hernaiz capped the rally with an RBI single to shallow center, but a strong relay from David Mershon cut down a runner at the plate to end the inning with a 5-3 score.

The Aviators kept the offense rolling over the next two, plating two runs with two outs in the fourth on an RBI single from Gio Urshela before scoring on a wild pitch for the second time in the game. Las Vegas put up another in the fifth as Brett Harris provided a sacrifice fly to bring home Cortez to take an 8-4 lead.

The Bees mounted a rally in the seventh, pushing across three runs on four hits while sending nine batters to the plate. After a pair of walks and a single from Sebastián Rivero loaded the bases, Christian Moore lined a single to center for his third RBI of the night. With one out, Carter Kieboom came through with a two-run single to bring Salt Lake within one.

Salt Lake had a prime chance to tie or take the lead in the eighth, drawing three consecutive two-out walks to load the bases, but a groundout to third ended the threat.

Sam Bachman handled the final two innings for the Bees, retiring the side in order in the seventh and working around a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth to keep it a one-run game heading into the ninth.

The Bees went down in order in the ninth, though Tucker Flint came within feet of a game-tying homer with a deep fly to the warning track. Elvis Alvarado then struck out David Mershon to end the game, securing his seventh save of the season and sealing an 8-7 win for Las Vegas.

Game Notes

Salt Lake dropped its third straight game, falling to 26-38 on the season and 16-18 in one-run contests.

Las Vegas scored in each of the first five innings before Salt Lake's pitching staff clamped down, holding the Aviators to just one hit over the final three frames. The Bees out-hit Las Vegas 9-8, falling to 16-9 on the season when recording more hits than their opponent.

Kyren Paris drew a Triple-A-best three walks on Wednesday night and scored multiple runs for the third time with Salt Lake. He's now scored in eight consecutive games--the longest active streak in the Pacific Coast League--and has reached base in all 14 games he's played for the Bees.

Christian Moore went 2-for-4 on Wednesday night, launching a first-inning home run for the second straight game to bring his season total to four--three of which have come in the opening frame. Moore matched a season-high three RBI and recorded a hit, run scored and a run batted in for the eighth time in 20 games with Salt Lake. Over his last 10 games, Moore is batting .375 with nine runs scored, eight RBI, four home runs and a 1.157 OPS.

Niko Kavadas recorded multiple hits for the first time since May 31 at Tacoma, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. He ripped his team-leading 36th RBI of the season and has now reached base in 33 of his last 36 games.

Carter Kieboom finished 1-for-5 with two RBIs, hitting safely for the fifth time in his last six games. It marked his first multi-RBI effort since May 7 against Sugar Land. Kieboom has not gone hitless in back-to-back games since April 15-16 against Sacramento.

J.D. Davis turned in another multi-hit effort on Wednesday, going 2-for-5 while scoring a run for the fourth straight game. It marked his fourth consecutive multi-hit performance--the longest streak of his Triple-A career since May 3-6, 2018 with Fresno. Since May 27, Davis is batting .412 across eight games with six multi-hit performances. He has scored eight times during that stretch with eight RBI, four doubles and two home runs.

Sebastián Rivero extended his hitting streak, going 1-for-4 and scoring for the third straight game. He has now hit safely in 28 of 31 games this season, including 18 of his last 19, batting .343 over that stretch with 14 RBIs, 13 runs scored, and an impressive .939 OPS.

Caden Dana turned in just his third outing of the season under four innings, matching a season-high with seven runs allowed--five earned--on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. He's now allowed multiple home runs in back-to-back starts and hasn't gone beyond 5.1 innings or topped four strikeouts since May 6 against Sugar Land.

Up Next

Salt Lake will search for its first win of the series on Thursday night as Touki Toussaint takes the ball for the Bees with first pitch slated for 8:05 p.m. MST at Las Vegas Ballpark.

Check out the Salt Lake Bees Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from June 12, 2025


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